Resource: Accelerate ED Designathon
Public goods from the Accelerate ED community
Facilitated by ESG between August 2025 and January 2026, the Accelerate ED Designathon brought together participants from community colleges, K–12 districts, intermediaries, and research organizations across Illinois, Louisiana, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia to address a critical question: How might we strengthen the connection between dual enrollment and full postsecondary matriculation at the same institutions, creating seamless transitions that significantly increase the likelihood of students persisting in their chosen pathways?
Through four virtual meetings; a three-day in-person design sprint in Charlotte, NC; and ongoing asynchronous collaboration, teams explored root causes, generated solutions, and rapidly prototyped practical tools. The process centered on real practitioner insights, iterative feedback, and a commitment to creating resources that could be immediately useful across diverse contexts. The result is three public goods that can be used independently or together to support practitioners and system leaders in strengthening dual enrollment transitions.
